Various devices and methods have been previously employed to create or design floral arrangements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,126 to McAdams discloses using one or more elongated stem portions and a plurality of petiole or auxiliary stem portions with leaflet shaped pads to construct a bouquet wherein the petiole stem portions are disposed and of a selected number such that they may be positioned to arrange the leaflet shaped pads in a geometric pattern conforming to the floral pattern desired. U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,950 to Corbet discloses a method for assembling a floral arrangement by using a base with a predetermined pattern of holes for insertion of flower stems, wherein each hole is coded to be matched with a flower of a corresponding code.
These available devices and methods for designing a floral arrangement are deficient in several respects. For example, to design a floral arrangement using the apparatus of McAdams disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,126, a florist must manipulate, interconnect and/or bend a number of elements, including a number of elongate stem portions and a plurality of petiole stem portions with leaflet pads, and then arrange the leaflet pads in a geometric pattern conforming to the desired floral pattern. Designing a floral arrangement with an apparatus of such complexity can be time consuming and cumbersome, and does not allow the customer to preview the final product until it is completed, often resulting in cost surprises and additional modifications to the bouquet.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,950 to Corbet exhibits similar deficiencies in terms of complexity and time needed to design a floral bouquet. The apparatus and method of Corbet uses a plurality of bases and flower stems with coded numbers to design a floral arrangement. The apparatus can only be used to design flowers in particular settings, that is, the position of flowers within a floral arrangement is dictated by the position of the predetermined holes. In this regard, the apparatus of Corbet is not flexible in terms of design parameters as the predetermined holes provide for only a fixed number of flowers in the floral arrangement at predetermined positions.
None of these devices and methods for creating floral arrangements allow for the design of a floral bouquet with a high degree of flexibility and reproducibility. Furthermore, prior art devices are cumbersome and require manipulation of stem-like members, which is time-consuming. There is therefore a need for a method and apparatus for designing floral arrangements which is inexpensive, easy to use, and flexible such that the position, orientation and/or type of flower within an arrangement can be easily altered and reproduced, facilitating accurate cost estimates for a final product satisfactory to the customer.